Lee Carsley confirms he hasn't applied for England job amid reports he 'does not want' to stay as permanent boss

Gareth Southgate left the post of the England national team manager in July after the Three Lions failed to win the Euro 2024 final against Spain. The Football Association (FA) turned to Carsley to serve as the interim boss as they looked for potential managers to take over on a permanent basis. The 50-year-old had a perfect start to life before England's 2-1 loss to Greece and The Telegraph reports he does not want to stay on.

Speaking to the media, Carsley said he will 'hopefully' return to the England U21 team. When asked to clarify his comments the 50-year-old said: "Hopefully is a word and a phrase I use quite a bit. There’s obviously no guarantees in life, including tomorrow.

"It’s a job, the Under-21s, that I’m really proud of and massively invested in. But I know there’s no guarantees. But the plan is to give this job for three camps the best I can do along with the rest of the staff and hopefully we can be in a good position.”

"I wanted to give this job my best shot for three camps. I didn’t want to have any regrets. I think it’s important that we do try something different at times and I think I’ll be a better coach for that, but I think we’ll be a bit more conventional tomorrow night."

When questioned further about the permanent England role and his potential running for the job, Carsley said: "No, I didn't formally apply for it.

"Because I've been with the U21s. I'm really happy doing my job but I'm an employee of the FA and I was asked to take the senior team which is a privilege, it was the proudest moment of my career so far.

"Really honoured with the chance to manage the senior team, I'm in a really fortunate position, I'm on the inside and I can see how much potential this team's got.

"I've said all along, it's one of the best jobs in world football, there's not many jobs where you've got a chance of winning, I believe the coach that comes in has got a really good chance of winning and we deserve the best one that's out there."

The Three Lions have reportedly been in contact with former Chelsea and Bayern Munich boss Thomas Tuchel to take over the role of England's head coach and it seems highly likely that Carsley will return to the U21s once a permanent manager is signed on.